Jitendra Joshi – An Electrician turned Actor

Jitendra has already made his presence felt through his roles in recent films like ‘Guldasta’, ‘Shala’ and ‘Zhakaas’. Now, his two forthcoming films, namely ‘Matter’ and ‘Tukaram’ are all set for release shortly. He is also working in few more film projects. Marathi Movie World spoke to this multi talented personality. Excerpts from an interview:

Q: How was life, prior to entering this acting field ?
A: Prior to acting, as a youngster I have done lots of hard work expected from any active young boy; like distributing the newspapers and working in a shop. Basically, I am an electrician and during my young days used to run the shop of my uncle.

Q: When exactly you felt that you could become an actor ?
A: One day, while I was in my Uncle’s shop, my teacher Mr. Pardeshi spotted me there. He suggested me that I was at a wrong place. He indicated that my place was in theatre, as according to him, I was good at acting. But, that time, I didn’t know what exactly was required to be done, to become an actor. Later, when I shifted to Pune, I watched some one act plays and dramas. Watching the performances of Subodh Bhave and Lokesh Gupte, inspired me. I joined Satish Tare and Sunil Tare’s group as music operator. One day, in absence of one artist , I was asked to play his role. Mr. Mohan Wagh, who saw me in that role, selected me for his play ‘Three Cheers’ and I landed in Mumbai.

Q: But, how did you turn a lyricist ?
A: I don’t exactly remember, when I took interest in writing. May be, after I shifted to Mumbai. It happened, because of the encouragement from my family and friends. I have done very limited writing. Till now, I have written songs for films like ‘Bokya Satbande’ ,‘Jatra’, ‘Virrudh’ ( Hindi) and ‘Striker’ ( Hindi). Even for the film ‘Matter‘, I have penned one song ‘Bada bada bananeka….’ and even rendered my voice to this song in the company of my co artistes Santosh Juvekar, Sushant Shelar and Music director Abhijit Kavthekar.

Q: You are one of the four heroes in the film ‘Matter‘ . Tell us something about this film.
A: About this film, I would only say that we generally see the happenings in the life of the characters. But, what’s life all about and under what circumstances the characters live their life; ‘Matter’ takes a close look at it. It’s a story of four friends and their struggle in life.

Q: What do you have to say about your much talked about film ‘Tukaram‘ ?
A: Now, everyone knows about this famous saint. All I can say is that I am playing this central character in the film.